Book collating method and means



Dec. 17, 1968 5 3,416,786

BOOK COLLATING METHOD AND MEANS Filed Dec. 29, 1965 2 SheetsSheez 2INVENTOR ANTON STOBB L )4 TTORNEV United States Patent 3,416,786 BOOKCOLLATING METHOD AND MEANS Anton R. Stobb, Pittstown, N.J., assignor toStobb, Inc., Mountainside, N.J., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Dec.29, 1965, Ser. No. 517,332 9 Claims. (Cl. 270-54) ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A book collating method and apparatus including rollersoffset from a center of planetary movement, and with the rollerssupported on shafts eccentric to the axes of the rollers. The rollerscarry grippers which move along a straight line for a portion of theplanetary motion A stack of signatures is disposed, and a hopper isprovided for so disposing signatures, so that the base of the stack isin a fiat plane along the straight line of movement of the grippers.Releasable support means are provided at the base of the stack forholding the same until a sheet or signature is released, and signalmeans is provided in connection with the action of the grippers todetect such action or the failure thereof. A collector is disposed insheet-transfer communication with the pickup means of the roller, forreceiving the sheets from the pickup means.

This invention relates to a book collating method and means.

The present art is aware of apparatus for assembling books or magazinesfrom separate stacks of signatures which form the book or magazine. Thisis commonly done by arranging the stacks of signatures in sequentialorder and taking one signature from each stack and depositing it with acollector which moves past the stacks. In this manner, the signaturesare collected in the desired order to have them form a book or magazine.

It is common practice to have the stacks of signatures supported inhoppers which present the stack in a substantially vertical direction sothat a gripper is passed below the stacks to pick up the bottomsignature and deposit it on a collector, as mentioned. The gripper orpickup means commonly moves in an arcuate or circular path, and,correspondingly, the stack is thus disposed so that the bottom signatureis also arcuate to facilitate the pickup. In this general arrangement,there is a problem in permitting the bottom signature to be picked up orremoved from the stack at the same time that the stack is beingsupported in an upward direction. As mentioned, the stack itself isdisposed to have the bottom signature curved or bent to conform to thecurved path of the gripper or other pickup means.

It is a general object of this invention to provide a collator methodand means which improves upon the collating methods and means heretoforeknown.

A more specific object of this invention is to provide a collatingmethod and means wherein the stack of signatures can be readily andeasily maintained in a hopper or the like, can be readily and easily andrapidly placed into the hopper by the operator, and wherein thesignatures can be readily and easily removed from the stack to assurethat a signature will be removed when it is desired to do so, and to belikewise sure that there will not be more than one signature removed atone time.

Still another specific object of this invention is to provide a collatormethod and means wherein the gripper itself provides a support for thestack of signatures to be picked up singly by the gripper and whereinthe support is provided so that stack may be placed in a planardisposition without requiring any special handling or positioning of thestack by the operator. In accomplishing this particular object, grippermeans moves in a similar planar ice pattern so that it presents asupport for the stack, or so that it moves across the stack, in a flatplane rather than in an arcuate path.

Still a further object of this invention is to provide a collator methodand means wherein the operator is immediately aware of an erroneous actof either missing a signature or taking up more than one signature asone gripper moves past a stack. This particular object is accomplishedby the employment of a signal means which detects that a gripper ismoving with either none or more than one signature, and the operator canthen of course respond to the signal by correcting the defect.

Other objects and advantages become apparent upon reading the followingdescription in light of the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a preferred embodiment of thisinvention with parts thereof broken away and parts thereof sectioned,and with further parts thereof identified in dot-dash lines.

FIG. 2 is an end sectional view taken substantially along the line 22 ofFIG. 1 with parts thereof removed. FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic view showingthe approximate path of the signature grippers or pickup means.

A stack of signatures S is shown supported in a hopper or bin 10 in whatmay be termed a downwardly directed angle with respect to thelongitudinal axis of the stack S. Thus the angle is approximately 45degrees with the horizontal so that the weight of the stack S is shownto be effective downwardly, but of course the stack is not in acompletely vertical position. That is, the stack is not directly abovethe mechanism shown but is to the side thereof. The mechanism is shownto include a frame or support 11 and gripper or pickup means 12 whichmove past the stack S to obtain one signature from the stack and depositit on a collector or bed 13,

It will be understood by one skilled in the art that there would be aseries of signature stacks, and each stack would have the mechanismnecessary for taking one signature from each stack and depositing it onthe collector 13. With each stack being of a difierent type ofsignatures, a complete book or magazine is thus collated or assembled. Amoving chain 14 is shown to be included in the collector, and anupstanding lug 16 on the chain 14 moves the signatures along thecollector 13 so that each stack can deposit its particular signature onthe collector 13. Thus the bottom signature s can be considered to bedisposed on the stack S as shown. Ultimately, the signature .9 will bedisposed on the collector 13, and it is so shown, and of course thissignature came from the gripper 12 and is shown in a position on thegripper 12 immediately above the collector 13 of course just prior tothe time the signature s is dropped onto the collector 13.

The grippers 12 are provided with necessary mechanism to cause them tomove in a flat plane upwardly along the base of the stack S. To do this,the grippers 12 include rollers 17 rotatably mounted on shafts 18cccentric to the axes of the rollers 17. The rollers 17 are rotatableand they orbit about a central shaft 19. In the combination of rotatingand orbiting, the roller eccentricity measured from the roller center tothe center of the shaft 18, and the roller offset measured from thecenter of the shaft 19 to the center of the shaft 18, are such that therollers have their circumferences, in the outside limits thereof,approach following the substantially triangular pattern designated bythe line 21 in FIG. 3. Thus, to achieve the triangular pattern 21, theroller eccentricity about shaft 18 would be one-third the roller offset.This relationship is commonly known, and it provides degrees of flatrolling, to form the pattern 21. That is, in 30-60 degree triangle, oneleg is twice the length of the hypotenuse, and if R is the roller offsetand r is the roller eccentricity, then R plus 1' (in the maximum rollerextent) equals twice the sum of R minus r (in the minimum rollerextent). So R equals three r. The drawings show the eccentricity to beless than one-third of the roller offset, so there is less than a 120degree of fiat rolling, but there is a substantial angle of fiatrolling. This therefore clearly shows that the rollers 17 will orbit androtate so that they will roll along a straight or flat plane along aportion of the base of the stack S to support the stack while at thesame time the gripper 12 is picking up the bottom signature s.

In tracing the drive and mechanism for accomplishing the aforementioned,a drive sprocket 22 is shown by the dot-dash lines in FIG. 1, and itwill of course be understood to be driven by any suitable power source,and such source may of course be electric power. The sprocket 22 rotatesa gear 23, also shown in dot-dash lines, and both are shown to bemounted on a shaft 24. The gear 23 meshes with a gear indicated by theline 26, and the latter in turn meshes with a larger gear indicated bythe dot-dash line 27. This therefore causes the gear 27 to rotate in theclockwise direction as indicated in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 also shows thesedrive parts, and it will be further noted that the gear 26 is mounted ona shaft 28 supported in the frame 11. FIG. 2 also shows that shafts 18are rotatably supported on gear 27. Thus each shaft 18 is orbited aboutthe shaft 19 on which the gear 27 is mounted.

A gear 29 is also centered on the shaft 19 but is affixed to the frame11 by means of the bolt 31 in FIG. 2. A gear 32, shown by dot-dash linesin FIG. 1, is in mesh with the gear 29, and a gear 33, also shown bydot-dash lines in FIG. 1, is in mesh with the gear 32. The gear 33 is onthe shaft 18, and is shown in FIG. 2. Thus upon rotation of the gear 27and the consequent orbital displacement of each shaft 18, the gears 33,32, and 29, being in mesh, cause the shaft 18 to rotate as it orbits theshaft 19. This of course causes the grippers 12, and particularly theirrollers 17, to also rotate as they orbit the shaft 19. This produces thesubstantially triangular pattern shown by line 21 in FIG. 3, for thesurface of each roller 17, and the dot-dash line designated 34 in FIG.1, and adjacent the stack S, shows the path of the gripper element 36included in the gripper 12. The element 36 is shown to be a suction typeof gripper operated by a vacuum to hold the signature s against theroller 17 as the latter moves from the position of the roller 17 on theleft in FIG. 1 to the position of the roller 17 on the right in FIG. 1.

FIG. 1 shows the rotating shaft 19 has three arms 37 extending radiallytherefrom and supporting pivot pins 38 which pivotally carry extensionarms 39. Rollers 41 are rotatably supported by pins 42 on the ends ofthe arms 39. A spring 43 is effective between the arms 37 and 39 tocause the rollers 41 to bear against the pickup roller 17. Thus therollers 41 are available and operate to hold the signatures against theroller 17 as the signatures are moved from the stack S to the collector13, such as the roller 41 in the lower position in FIG. 1 is holding thesignatures s.

FIG. 2 shows the roller 17 to be hollow and having two air passageways44 extending from the hollow interior to the suction cups 36. A shaft 18has an air passageway 46 which is in flow communication with theinterior of the roller 17 and which is also in flow communication withan air passageway 47 in the side frame piece 48. The passageway 47 isshown in FIG. 1 to extend only part of a complete circle, and arotatable plate 49 overlaps the passageway 47 and rotatably supports theshaft 19 in the frame piece 48, and also rotatably supports the shaft18, both as shown in FIG. 2. A piece 49 carries a circular seal member51 which seals the passageway 47 except of course for the opening 52 inthe seal 51 to communicate the passageways 47 and 46. It will herefore eunderstood that each shaft 18 has a passageway 46 in separate fiowcommunication with the passageway 47. Further, the passageways 46 are infiow communication with the passageway 47 only in the length of thepassageway 47, which length extends from the shaft 18 on the left inFIG. 1 to the shaft on the right in FIG. 1. Therefore, the grippers 12are effective only between these two positions mentioned, and thus whenthe gripper 12 on the right in FIG. 1 reaches the position in which itis in, the vacuum or suction is terminated as the gripper 12 movesfurther clockwise about the shaft 19 and thus the signature s isreleased by the suction cups 36.

The top of the stack S is secured by an adjustable plate or holder 53which is mounted on the frame 11 by means of the bolt 54 extendingthrough an elongated slot 56 in the plate 53. Thus the plate 53 can beraised and lowered to accommodate a position to where it will onlyslightly overlap the upper edge of the stack S as shown. The lower edgeof the stack S is secured by a movable finger 57 pivotally mounted on ashaft 58. The finger 57 is integral with an arm 59 attached to a shaft61 by means of a pin 62. The shaft 61 is slidable in a block 63 suitablysecured to the frame piece 11. A compression spring 64 urges the shaft61 downwardly and carries a cam follower 66 along with it. The follower66 thus rolls on a cam 67 which rotates with a shaft 68 driven by asprocket 69 and a chain 71, shown in dotdash lines. The drive as shownindicates that the sprocket 69 is driven along with the sprocket 22 sothat the cam follower 66 will be synchronized with the other collatingmechanism described. It will therefore be understood that the depressionin the cam 67 is adjacent the follower 66 so that the latter will bemoved downwardly to retract the finger 57 and release the lowersignature s at the time that the suction cup 36 moves into the positionindicated by the dot-dash line 34 to pick up the signature s.

In the event that any one of the grippers 12 picks up more or less thanone signature, the mechanism then has not properly functioned. To detectthis, an electric switch 72 is mounted on the frame 11 and has a pushbutton 73 in contact with an arm 74 pivotally mounted on a pin 76 in ablock 77. The block 77 is slidably secured to the frame 11 and isadjustable therein by means of a screw 78 extending between the frame 11and the block 76. Thus the arm 74 is adjustable, and it has a roller 79adjacent the path of the outer limit of the grippers 12, that is, thepath shown in FIG. 3. Thus the grippers 12 move adjacent the roller 79,and the latter may be contacted by a signature s, and if in the eventmore than one signature is on the gripper 12, then the arm 74 would bepivoted upwardly to actuate the push button 73 and stop the entiremechanism, such as the electric drive previously mentioned. A brace 81holds the arm 74 from falling below the position shown in FIG. 1.However, a finger 82 is pivotally mounted on the arm 74 by means of apin 83, and the finger 82 can extend to an angled surface 84 carried bythe gripper 12. Thus the end of the finger 82 will be caught in theangled surface 84, and counterclockwise rotation of the gripper 12 willagain cause the arm 74 to pivot upwardly and signal the fact that nosignature was carried by that gripper 12. That is, when there is nosignature carried by the gripper 12, then the finger 82 is permitted toproject to a point where it will engage the angled surface 84, as shownin FIG. 1, for the signaling purpose just described. Of course, if thereis a signature carried on the gripper 12, then the arm 82 will simply bepivoted with respect to the arm 74 and will not trip the switch 72.

FIG. 2 shows a means whereby the vacuum may be maintained between asource of supply connected to the opening or passageway 86 incommunication with the arcuate groove 47 and the passageway 46. Thus,the shaft 18 is provided with an axially fixed collar 87 urged to theleft in FIG. 2 by a compression spring 88. Thus the spring is shownmounted over a retainer 89 which does not rotate because of the ballbearings 91 interposed between it and the shaft 18. The shaft 18 istherefore urged to the left to have its seal 51 elfective over thevacuum groove 47 as necessary. Further, it will of course be understoodthat while the sectional view shown in FIG. 1 is basically shown to be asection taken on a line looking to the right in FIG. 2, nevertheless,the vacuum groove 47 is indicated on the view in FIG. 1 though it is tothe left of the would-be section line in FIG. 2. It will of course bereadily understood by one skilled in the art that the parts are locatedas necessary and as described and the drawing in FIG. 1 simply shows theconfiguration from an end view rather than their precise locationaxially of the shaft 19.

To accomplish the triangular pattern of FIG. 3, the speed of the rollers17 and their orbital speed around the axis of the shaft 19 and thediameter and eccentricity of the rollers 17, all produce the planarmotion of the outer limit of the circumference of the rollers past theend of the stack S.

While a specific embodiment of this invention has been shown anddescribed, it should be obvious that certain changes could be made inthe embodiment and the invention should therefore be determined only bythe scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A collator for gathering signatures for the assembly of a book ormagazine, comprising a bin for supporting an aligned stack of signaturesuprightly disposed with the stack axis at a 45 degree angle with respectto the vertical, the bottom of said stack being in a flat plane, aroller planetarily mounted for rolling on said fiat plane of said bottomof said stack, a gripper on said roller and being operative for pickingup one of said signatures in the movement of said roller along a portionof said bottom of said stack, and signal means disposed adjacent saidroller to detect if none and more than one of said signatures is beingcarried on said roller and past said signal means at any one time.

2. A collator for gathering signatures for the assembly of a book ormagazine, comprising a bin for supporting an aligned stack of signatureshaving the end thereof disposed in a fiat plane, a shaft mounted fororbital movement about an axis and adjacent said end of said stack, aroller eccentrically rotatably mounted on said shaft for rolling past anend of said stack and with said roller being eccentrically mounted androtatable and orbital in a planetary motion about said axis to have theradially outer limit of the circumference of said roller with respect tosaid axis move on said flat plane on a portion of said end of saidstack, a gripper on said roller and being operative for picking up oneof said signatures in the movement of said roller past said stack, and acollector for receiving said signatures from said gripper.

3. The subject matter of claim 2 wherein said gripper is vacuumoperated, and including a vacuum line in fluidfiow communication withsaid gripper and extending with respect to the orbital path of saidgripper only from the corresponding place of signature pick-up at saidstack to the corresponding place of signature release at said collector.

4. The subject matter of claim 1 wherein the signal means includes asensing roller rotatably mounted adjacent the path of thefirst-mentioned said roller and in rolling contact with the signaturescarried therepast and being displaceable by the thickness of two of saidsignatures, and an electric switch operatively connected with saidsensing roller for actuation when said sensing roller is displaced bysaid two signatures.

5. The subject matter of claim 1 wherein the signal means includes anelectric switch adjacent the path of said roller and actuated by saidroller when there is no signature on said roller at the time the lattermoves past said switch.

6. A method of book collating comprising the steps of stackingsignatures for books in an aligned stack with the longitudinal axis ofthe stack disposed to 'be oriented at least approximately intermediatethe horizontal and vertical directions, upwardly supporting the upperand lower edges of the bottom signature in said stack to have the bottomof said stack disposed on a fiat plane and with the intermediate portionof said bottom signature being engaged by a roller in rolling contactwith said intermediate portion and orbital about an axis below saidstack, and with the holding of said lower edge being by a mova'hlyreleasable support, releasing said lower edge by moving said support andpicking otf one of said signatures by gripping it with a suction-typegripper at said lower edge and peeling said one signature from saidstack by eccentrically supporting said gripper on said roller while thelatter rolls along said flat plane of said bottom of said stack andtoward said upper edge, re-securing said lower edge by replacing saidsupport thereagainst, and depositing said one signature onto a collectorfor signatures.

7. A method of book collating comprising the steps of stackingsignatures for books in an aligned stack disposed with the stack axis atan angle of forty-five degrees with respect to the vertical and with thefeed end of the stack being at bottom of the stack and disposed in aflat plane releasa'bly supporting the bottom one of said signatures onsaid flat plane by holding the upper edge and the lower edge of saidbottom one and having the remaining intermediate portion of said bottomone exposed, upwardly supporting said stack by rolling a roller alongsaid flat plane and on said intermediate portion with said rollerorbiting an axis below said stack, gripping the bottom one of saidsignatures at said lower edge thereof and peeling said one signaturefrom said stack by supporting a suction gripper eccentrically on saidroller and rolling the latter on said flat plane in the direction awayfrom said lower edge and toward said upper edge, and depositing said onesignature onto a collector for signatures.

8. The method of claim 7, including the additional step of alternatelysupporting and releasing said lower end of said bottom signature insynchronization with the gripping of said bottom signature to timelyrelease the latter and to upwardly support said stack.

9. The method of claim 7, including the step of monitoring the passageof said signatures from said stack to said collector and signaling ifnone and more than one signature is moved to said collector at any onetime.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,039,541 9/1912 Kast 270--562,166,709 7/ 1939 Swanson 270-56 3,089,693 5/1963 Gore et a1 270-543,130,966 4/1964 Hepp 270-64 EUGENE R. CAPOZIO, Primary Examiner. P. V.WILLIAMS, Assistant Examiner.

